Alijah Arenas Scores 19 and Jacob Cofie Grabs 15 Rebounds as No. 21 USC Beats California 77-65

Alijah Arenas came to Berkeley with Bay Area basketball bloodlines and a big cheering section on Wednesday night, missed a pair of free throws that sent a building full of Cal fans home with a free burger, and still walked out of Haas Pavilion with the win. Fifty-three rebounds will do that.

No. 21 USC beat California 77-65 in Berkeley, riding a 53-36 edge on the glass, 19 offensive rebounds and nine blocked shots to stay unbeaten at 3-0. Arenas led four Trojans in double figures with 19 points and seven rebounds, Rodney Rice scored 18, KJ Lewis added 16 off the bench and Jacob Cofie filled every column with 13 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals in all 40 minutes. Sammie Yeanay scored 14 for the Golden Bears (2-2), and Nojus Indrusaitis had 13. A crowd of 5,087 watched USC grind it out.

A Cold Open in Berkeley

Cal came out like the team with something to prove, which it was. The Bears jumped to a 9-2 lead, with Yeanay finishing the early burst on a dunk while the Trojans coughed the ball up on early possessions and looked a step slow after Sunday's high-wire act in Tahoe.

The 93-86 win over Wichita State, when Rice scored 32 and Arenas scored 30, was a free throw clinic. This one became a rebounding clinic, once USC woke up. Lewis supplied the first real jolt with a 3-pointer at 11:39 of the first half, and the Trojans started living on second chances from there.

The middle of the half was a slugfest. Yeanay was Cal's best answer, attacking the rim and flushing one home to keep the Bears within 32-30 late in the period. Cofie answered with a slam of his own to make it 34-30, and USC closed the half on a 7-0 burst to go into the locker room up 39-30.

Yeanay's night came with a catch. Yeanay played only 17 minutes and picked up four fouls, which made the most efficient scorer on the floor (6 of 12 from the field) a part-time option.

Cofie Does a Bit of Everything

The box score says Arenas led the team in scoring. The game says Cofie ran it.

The forward played every second, grabbed 13 defensive rebounds to end Cal possessions, and passed out of the post well enough to finish with six assists against one turnover. The 15 rebounds matched his career high, according to the Associated Press. Add three blocks and two steals and it is the kind of line that rarely leads SportsCenter but quietly decides road games in November.

Jadis Jones did the dirty work beside him. Jones scored just six points on 3 of 6 shooting, but grabbed 11 rebounds, six of them offensive, and blocked two shots in 29 minutes. Between Cofie and Jones, USC got 26 rebounds and five blocks from two players who combined for 19 points, which is a nice reminder that the Trojans do not need their guards to be perfect to win.

They were not perfect. USC shot 41 percent from the field (26 of 64) and 29 percent from 3 (6 of 21), but 19 offensive rebounds covered a lot of misses.

The Arenas Homecoming, Burger Included

This was always going to be Arenas' night to some degree. Arenas is the son of former Golden State guard Gilbert Arenas, and the AP noted a large contingent of friends and family on hand in Berkeley.

They got a full stat line: 19 points on 8 of 16 shooting, seven rebounds, a block and 38 minutes of steady pressure on the rim. They also got five turnovers and a 2 of 5 night at the line. The two misses that drew the loudest reaction came midway through the second half, when a missed pair triggered a promotion that earned Cal fans a free burger at the Shake Shack in Berkeley. On a night when the Bears could not get over the hump, the home crowd at least got dinner.

Rice was the steadier guard, going just 5 of 16 from the floor but making all six free throws, hitting two 3s, handing out three assists and playing 39 minutes. Three days after a career night against Wichita State, Rice is turning into the guard USC trusts when possessions get ugly.

Lewis may have been the difference between a grind and a scare. The bench guard shot 4 of 9, made 2 of 4 from deep, went 6 of 7 at the line and scored 16 in 33 minutes.

The Turning Point: Cal Runs Out of Answers

USC won the second half by only three, 38-35, and for stretches it looked like the Bears might drag the Trojans into another tight finish. They never had the margin for error.

The Bears' problem was the 3-point line. Cal shot 4 of 23 from deep (17 percent), and Indrusaitis carried a big chunk of that load at 2 of 9. Indrusaitis still reached 13 points with six rebounds and three assists, but needed 14 shots to get there. Jordan Ross scored seven on 3 of 10 shooting with three assists and three turnovers, and Jake Wilkins fouled out after 27 minutes with eight points, four of them on free throws, plus two steals and two blocks.

Cal did plenty right. The Bears won the paint 34-26, scored 16 fast-break points to USC's four and turned USC's 12 turnovers into 12 points, while the Trojans got only four points off Cal's seven giveaways. Cal can make life miserable in transition. But once possessions turned into half-court ones, USC's size swallowed shots and boards, and the Bears could not make enough from outside to punish the Trojans for crowding the lane.

Cofie made it 69-59 with a dunk late, and USC was up 70-60 with 3:15 to play when Arenas stepped into a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 73-60. That was the last real door slammed. USC led for 70 percent of the game and by as many as 14. Cal's biggest lead was seven, back when the Bears were up 9-2.

Numbers That Tell the Story

The glass: USC 53, Cal 36, with a 19-14 edge on the offensive end. The rim: nine USC blocks to two for Cal. The line: USC made 19 of 25 free throws, Cal 15 of 21. The giveaways went the other way, with USC committing 12 turnovers to Cal's seven and the Bears winning the steals battle 7-3. USC's bench scored 27, led by Lewis' 16, with Jones adding six, Joshua Hughes three and Jalen Cox two.

Semetri Carr gave Cal some useful minutes off the bench with six points, five rebounds and five assists in 17 minutes, and Michael Cooper added seven. Mantas Kocanas had five, Dominykas Daubaris three and Jovani Ruff two. The full sheet is on the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab).

One thing to watch for USC: the Ratliffs barely played. Adonis Ratliff, who scored 25 in a college debut against Milwaukee, logged four scoreless minutes, and Darius Ratliff played five minutes with three fouls. USC still won a road game with almost nothing from either, which says something about the depth.

What It Means

This was a homecoming in a few senses. Eric Musselman, the third-year USC coach, has coached both the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings, so a trip to Northern California is not a trip to just any road gym. And it was a reunion of old Pac-12 rivals, now a Big Ten team visiting an ACC one in a nonconference date. USC has won nine of the last 11 meetings, per the AP, but had not won in Berkeley since Nov. 30, 2022.

For Cal, there is no shame in this one. The Bears won 22 games last season, their most since 2016, and they have now played two ranked teams in four days, the first ending in an 86-68 loss to Houston in Tahoe. Their last win over a ranked team was an 84-78 victory over No. 14 North Carolina on Jan. 17.

USC returns home to host Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday. Cal hosts Utah Tech on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m. PT.

Sources: ESPN box score (opens in a new tab) and team stats, Associated Press, USC Athletics, California Athletics. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

USC has now won a blowout, a free throw shootout and a road rock fight in its first three games. The jumpers will come and go. Fifty-three rebounds and a forward who never sits are the kind of habits that travel all winter.

Photo: John McGillen/USC Athletics (file photo).